SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- The Cavaliers locker room was mostly empty long after their embarrassing 126-96 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday night at AT&T Center. It was the worst loss in a disappointing season that has already seen too much losing.

They have lost road games by 30 and 29 points (at Minnesota) and trailed Washington by 27 in their last home game. They are 4-10, 1-8 on the road, with a three-game losing streak that feels much longer.

It's not going to get any easier, either, with LeBron James and the two-time defending NBA champion Miami Heat set to visit The Q on Wednesday.

When asked how the Cavaliers move forward, All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving sighed heavily and then answered in a voice barely above a whisper.

"We've just got to come together,'' he said. He then added, "Tough times.

"We've all just got to stick together. … We're all young guys but we've got to figure it out. That's the most important thing right now, just figuring it out game to game and staying optimistic. I'm leading this group. It starts with me. I'm telling guys every day to stay positive, stay locked in.''

Irving was asked if this year has been harder than he thought it was going to be. With rookie Carrick Felix activated after missing most of the season with a sports hernia, the Cavs have eight new players and basically are starting over in new coach Mike Brown's defense-first system.

"I knew it was going to be hard,'' Irving said. "Everybody put all these expectations on us. Guys kind of get comfortable.

"But winning is hard to do in this league every single night. We have to realize that -- not only at home but on the road. It's that much more important for us to have a focus level game to game.''

The expectations, of course, came from within the organization. With the signing of veteran free agents Andrew Bynum and Jarrett Jack last summer, everyone from owner Dan Gilbert on down said the Cavs were going to be a playoff team. It's still early, and a lot of teams are struggling, but watching the Cavs through 14 games it's impossible to picture them in the postseason.

Yes, statistics indicate their defense has improved -- faster than expected, Brown says. But their very basic offense ranks as one of the worst and they've yet to figure out exactly how to work in Bynum with his minutes still limited to about 20 because of his sore knees.

Even the clutch Irving has gotten stuck occasionally. He still leads the team, averaging 21.3 points per game, 8.3 points in the fourth quarter, which is third in the league. Five times he has scored 10 or more points in the fourth quarter, including 18 in that home loss to Washington that prevented a complete rout.

But with teams keying on him more defensively -- playing him tighter especially down the stretch -- his shooting percentage has dropped off to a career-low 41 percent compared with 45.2 percent last season and 46.9 percent as a rookie. He is averaging about the same amount of turnovers as he has in his career, just over 3 a game, but many have come late in games when he's trying to make something happen with the Cavs trying to rally or hold onto a lead.

Irving was asked if this year had been harder on him personally, as well.

"Yeah, the defense is a lot harder,'' he said. "In certain games that we played … this year I'm pick and choosing my spots. The first two years I had to be aggressive for the whole entire game. Now I'm doing my best to get everybody involved and get everybody in a great rhythm so we're locked in going into the fourth quarter.

"Going into the fourth quarter is my time to be aggressive, but we still have a lot to figure out. When I'm driving sometimes, we're still figuring out our spacing and our offensive rhythm. Big Bynum's down there and guys have got to continue to practice with one another and continue to build an offensive rhythm with one another.''

Rookie marks: Though there was nothing good to come out of the loss to the Spurs, it is worth noting that all four rookies recorded season highs in scoring, although the game was out of hand by the time most of them got in. Matthew Dellavedova had 14 points, Anthony Bennett finished with nine, Sergey Karasev had eight and Felix two.

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